How to turn commuter parking abuse into an opportunity for your business Not all stations provide adequate parking and it’s often the businesses within ½ mile of a station who suffer as a result, with commuter parkers ‘over-flowing’ onto their land. Here’s how to combat this… Explore more Growing passenger numbers could impact businesses close to a station… Since 2010, passenger numbers using rail services across the UK have increased on average by 5% year-on-year*. No surprise when we consider the benefits of public transport, which range from reduction in air pollution, increased fuel efficiency and reduced congestion. However, at the current rate it is estimated that train passenger numbers could exceed 1.8bn* by 2020 – that’s a lot of commuters but what happens when people need to find available, affordable parking near to their end point or alternatively meet someone close-by who’s on pick-up duty. Clearly, not all stations provide adequate parking and it’s often the businesses within ½ mile of a station who suffer as a result, with commuter parkers ‘over-flowing’ onto their land. As a consequence, this can create issues in space availability for genuine customers, blockages/impasses on site and security. At Parkingeye, we’re already helping thousands of businesses deal with unauthorised parking and understand the very real impact this can have on staff, customers and ultimately, your business. Symptoms can manifest themselves in a number of ways; time drained from the facilities team as they wrestle to manage and minimise the abuse, complaints from genuine users which ultimately reflects negatively on your business and reduced footfall through your doors as potential customers go elsewhere. But thanks to new technology such as ANPR, there are now a number of unobtrusive options to help put you back in the driving seat. A choice of Car Park Management If you have a site where space is needed exclusively for customers, staff and visitors – you need to prevent any unauthorised users. Permits can be issued to ‘approved’ vehicles quickly and easily via an online portal, the cameras do the rest – automatically detecting any unofficial registration plates which enter your premises and triggering a Parking Charge Notice (PCN) to the abusers. This solution is hugely effective in deterring commuter parking on your land through effective enforcement. Alternatively, vehicles owned by permitted users can be validated within your premises using a small terminal – available as either a self-service solution or from behind reception. If you’d like to open up your facilities to commuter parking or drop-off/collect, why not generate a new revenue stream for your business with a range of next generation payment solutions across coins, notes, chip & pin, contactless and pay by phone. Our barcode scanner allows for additional functionality should you wish to push offers or discounts to create further opportunity. Clever stuff. If you have capacity to go further, contract parking for longer stays is an ideal option. Whether parking for the day or the month, offering available space to regular commuters for a day, a week or monthly, could be a win-win. At zero cost to you, we can utilise our software and state-of-the-art ANPR cameras to manage all the booking admin, ensure the correct tariffs are charged and support online payment so you can get back to business knowing you’re in safe hands. What’s more, we can even track the flow into your car park to ensure available space remains free for other users such as customers. Another concern associated with car parking abuse is security and the lack of visibility often felt by businesses suffering abuse from unauthorised vehicles. Our powerful data analytics provide rich customer and business information about the use of your car park, giving you a full understanding of vehicle activity, capturing the movements of almost all vehicles visiting your site – allowing you to regain control of your site. If you’re suffering abuse from commuters, you’re not alone – we’re here to help. Whether you’re a blue-chip household name or a small independent surface site. As the biggest private sector operator of Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) systems, with the largest privately-owned ANPR database in Europe, we’re serious about doing things right. Read more on our blog... How does ANPR work, and how does it benefit your car park? Automatic Number Plate Recognition, or ANPR has been a mainstay of car park management for several years, but it does... Read more Why you need to embrace parking apps As a society, we have all become increasingly reliant on smart devices. It’s easy to see why. Access to information,... Read more Cashless Payments and Mobile Apps: Revolutionising Car Park Transactions Habits change over time, in 2022 50% of all transactions in the UK were made via debit card, and 37%... Read more
